2 shipyards on Mobile River team up for Navy repair work

The U.S. Navy Research Vessel Sea Fighter. (Photo courtesy the U.S. Department of Defense)

MOBILE, Alabama -- Two Mobile shipyards will team up to repair a U.S. Navy Research Vessel over the next few months.

BAE Systems Southeast Shipyards won a contract to repair the Sea Fighter, an experimental littoral combat ship, at its Pinto Island shipyard across Mobile River from downtown Mobile.

BAE, in turn, hired its neighboring shipyard, Austal USA, as a subcontractor to provide structural maintenance work on the vessel, which is made of aluminum.

Austal specializes in building aluminum boats and has thousands of workers trained to work with aluminum, which is more fragile than the steel more commonly used in ship construction.

The total value of the BAE's contract was unclear, but Austal said its portion of the work was worth $1.5 million.

Vic Rhoades, general manager of BAE Systems Southeast Shipyards Alabama, has said that teaming with other nearby shipyards is going to be key to his shipyard's success. BAE has about 800 workers and contractors in Mobile.

"The ability to harness the strengths of both companies in a cooperative effort will be fundamental to securing future opportunities," Rhoades said in a written statement.

For Austal USA, the deal marks the first support work on a U.S. Navy vessel. The company's parent, Austal Ltd., has said one of its goals is to win long-term support contracts for each of the two vessels it is currently building for the Navy.

Austal is Mobile's largest industrial employer, with about 2,400 workers. It has contracts to build littoral combat ships and joint high-speed vessels for the Navy, and company officials expect the workforce to grow to 4,000 by 2013 in order to handle the work.

"We are excited to work with our neighbors at BAE Systems and bring more business to Mobile," Austal USA President Joe Rella said.